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Info: Holiday Special on 16mm? — Page 2

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Why am I not surprised that people are actually bidding on this. Idiots.

And I'd agree with the hypothesis that the special was shot on videotape, both due to the look of the picture, and the actual budget (ha ha) they had for that freagin' miscarriage. The coloration is crappy and blurry, edges aren't crisp at all (not as crisp as I would expect under the circumstances anyways), etc etc.

A good way to make comparisons between film and video---six episodes or so of the Twilight Zone were shot on video to save money. Look at a transfer of one of these episodes compared to the ones shot on film. While they're in black and white and shot nearly two decades before the special, it gives you an idea of the comparison. And again, given how crappy the budget was, there's no way in hell they shot on film.
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"The two-hour visual and audio delight stars the cast from the hit motion picture, "Star Wars," along with special guest stars in a live-animated-musical-pot pourri of pure entertainment complete with astonishing electronic special effects."

No... no... NO!!!
"The things that stick in my mind and make me laugh were, like, memos worried about whether or not the Wookie should have pants. They're looking at this thing and saying, "Couldn't he have some lederhosen?" This is great. Of all the things to worry about, the Wookie has no pants." -Mark Hamill
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LOL! It cracks me up every time I read that press release! They talk about it as if it is one of the greatest shows ever. I mean, they actually tried to create *cringes* HYPE for this!
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So, two days have gone by and this "1942martinguitar" guy hasn't responded to my questions.

There have been 7 bids (I hope it's none of you guys), and the item is now up to $67.00. New eBay ID, zero feedback, no picture of the item, no responses to questions... something's not right here.

Adam, did you write to the guy too?

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

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Originally posted by: SKot

Adam, did you write to the guy too?


Yep. Same here.
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Originally posted by: Adamwankenobi
LOL! It cracks me up every time I read that press release! They talk about it as if it is one of the greatest shows ever.


But then... So do you, Adam.

Anyway, does anyone know for sure if this thing is even a possibility? I mean, I know before VCR's were mainstream most people had little projectors set up in their basements to watch home movies and so forth. Could an official "watch at home" version have been sanctioned and released by Lucasfilm and/or CBS in the big marketing frenzy that encompassed all that was Star Wars? It would be a good question to ask Steve Sansweet. If there ever was one, it's a good bet he has a copy.

--ID

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Originally posted by: InfoDroid

But then... So do you, Adam.

Well... you do have a point.

Originally posted by: InfoDroid

Anyway, does anyone know for sure if this thing is even a possibility? I mean, I know before VCR's were mainstream most people had little projectors set up in their basements to watch home movies and so forth. Could an official "watch at home" version have been sanctioned and released by Lucasfilm and/or CBS in the big marketing frenzy that encompassed all that was Star Wars? It would be a good question to ask Steve Sansweet. If there ever was one, it's a good bet he has a copy.

--ID


No way. Lucasfilm would have NEVER released a home video version of this.
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While I agree with AWK's general statement, that still doesn't mean LFL doesn't have a copy of this transferred to film. Of course, even if this were so, the possibility of someone successfully navigating through Skywalker Ranch to the vault and getting their hands on this film is approximately three thousand, seven hundred and twenty to one.

(And I would honestly have to say to that person: Why did you pick this turkey, when the unmolested OT was probably right next to it! )

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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Since it's known the HS was shown in the U.K., is it possible this was a tape to film transfer to get around incompatible tv systems?

Where were you in '77?

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Was it shown at the same time? I thought Lucas yanked it pretty quick?

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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It was shown in some weird country as late as 1981.

I used to be very active on this forum. I’m not really anymore. Sometimes, people still want to get in touch with me about something, and that is great! If that describes you, please email me at [my username]ATgmailDOTcom.

Hi everybody. You’re all awesome. Keep up the good work.

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Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
While I agree with AWK's general statement, that still doesn't mean LFL doesn't have a copy of this transferred to film. Of course, even if this were so, the possibility of someone successfully navigating through Skywalker Ranch to the vault and getting their hands on this film is approximately three thousand, seven hundred and twenty to one.

(And I would honestly have to say to that person: Why did you pick this turkey, when the unmolested OT was probably right next to it! )


what an idiot if i broke in I would go for the OOT prints them the HS if i didn't get cought by then. O wait i would take everything that was filmed between 1776-1983 so i could have deleted scenes. lol
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Originally posted by: Darth Richard
Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
While I agree with AWK's general statement, that still doesn't mean LFL doesn't have a copy of this transferred to film. Of course, even if this were so, the possibility of someone successfully navigating through Skywalker Ranch to the vault and getting their hands on this film is approximately three thousand, seven hundred and twenty to one.

(And I would honestly have to say to that person: Why did you pick this turkey, when the unmolested OT was probably right next to it! )


what an idiot if i broke in I would go for the OOT prints them the HS if i didn't get cought by then. O wait i would take everything that was filmed between 1776-1983 so i could have deleted scenes. lol


That means you would have the holiday special somewhere among it all.
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SilverWook: As far as I know, the Holiday Special was never actually shown in the UK. Which is odd, considering that it was shown in most of the other major English-speaking countries as well as France, Sweden, Mexico, and even Malaysia.

However, the idea of the HS being transferred from video to 16mm film so it could be shown in another country could have some validity. But this guy is located in the US, so I can't figure out why his dad would have such a thing to give to him. It still stinks like yesterday's Dia Noga. Plus, the guy still hasn't responded to me (or Adam). I think he's got nothing and is trying to pull some kind of scam.

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

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Ah, ok. I knew it was inflicted on some other country, and presumed England. It would add to the horror if they went to the trouble to dub it into other langauges!
The other possibility that occured to me is tv programming shipped out to various military bases around the globe. I once came across at a thrift store 16mm prints of filmed tv shows with Navy markings on the cans. Back in college, the tv studio I slaved at used to get donations of U-matic tapes in Navy Blue shells with U.S. military markings on them. The few intact labels often listed tv shows with airdates from 1979 into the mid 80's, but they were usually all bulk erased!

Where were you in '77?

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The army base thing sounds plausible, but ultimately, who cares? Even if it was real, which I sincerely doubt, the HS does look like it was shot on video, so it would be a heavily edited version of a transfer at least one generation further down than the KCCI version by the time you'd telecined it, to say nothing of the difficulty of acheiving that.
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"It still stinks like yesterday's Dia Noga."

ROTFLMAO!

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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I'd like to see how this turns out. Whoever the winning bidder is, I'm sure they'll be pissed.
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And yet he's answered every question sent to him as of the 13th of February...

I mean, we know this is bullshit, but this really demonstrates how cynical we've become as a fanbase.

A couple of things came to mind when viewing this auction.

1) What are the odds that in 1978 before the advent of affordable VCR's, that this guy's Dad recorded it directly from TV with an 8mm camera? Perhaps the seller cannot tell the difference between 8mm and 16mm.

2) The format he's chosen to sell the item (ie: the auction layout) costs money. Usually bullshit sellers do their best to not incur fees. Of course, this does nothing to prove or disprove the validity of this item. Just an observation...

3) Everyone starts out on Ebay with zero feedback. Just because he has a zero doesn't mean he's mis-representing the item. It is a very odd thing to claim to possess if it is, in fact, a fake.

This item has generated enough interest that I can safely say it will sell for a large amount of money. Should it prove to be a fake, this seller will have a hard time getting away with taking someone's money. He has a PayPal account, which needs verification of address and bank account which kind of adds to his credibility.

If it is real, as I said above, it could be a case of dear old Dad just setting up the camera in front of the TV. If it is fake, well, this guy will be in a lot of trouble.

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Well, he has indeed answered the questions (though he hasn't really given any real info or clarification yet), and I've just peppered him with more. I'm beginning to figure I may need to win this auction... but I do want more proof from him first.

Should this be real, and should I win, I will definitely professionally transfer this film to digital. I've done it before with a 16mm film reel that was supposedly the Jefferson Starship segment from the Holiday Special (though it turned out to be a promo video from a different song). But it would be nice to have some additional backers on this, and I'll be asking my other starwarsholidayspecial.com comrades if they'll be able to help out. Anybody else willing to pitch in for the cause if this gets rich, as it likely will?

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

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As I intimated above, there's nothing saying this isn't the Holiday Special - but there is definately nothing vouching for the quality of it.

I'd hate to see someone invest a lot of money in this, only to find out that it's a bad transfer or home-made copy.

Until we see hard evidence it's such a risk and a gamble...
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Please, no-one bid against Skot